Thousands fill the Capitol rotunda in Madison, Wis.

[seemslikeadream]

I love this

I think this one is new





older one

[justdrew]

ya know, it's cute to see people protesting, but the problem is everyone else. Republicans simply DO NOT CARE. they can watch these protests ALL DAY LONG and it means nothing to them. Unless people vote for democrats nothing's going to change. I think we've seen from the Klopenberg fiasco, the majority in WI doesn't give a shit either, they want the Ayn Rand budget, they want sink or swim, you're on your own and the weak can go die.

Until people realize this is a partisan issue and wake up to where their loyalties lie, and commit to voting for democrats, or (DFL) nothing is going to change, the protests are meaningless. The republican party is the enemy of humanity and traitors to everything this country is supposed to stand for. They are disingenuous two-faced lairs - every single one, not most, every single one. Unless and until people realize the FACT they they are up against this evil party, engaged in civil war for their very lives, nothing is going to change. Yes, they are ABSOLUTELY EVIL. They fit the definition.

Due to the huge amount of brainwashed fools, and people who's interest lies with the rethugs due to their own wealth, the people who want something different are going to have to adopt some radical options. Some states are simply lost. Enough people will likely NOT be convinced to change their votes. People who know better need to consolidate their votes in states that can still be saved. Move. WI is lost if these recalls fail (and I suspect they will). Time to leave and let the rethugs sink on their ship of fools.

GOP running fake Democrats in Wisconsin recall elections
By David Edwards | Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 -- 11:28 am

The Republican Party of Wisconsin admitted Monday that they planned to run candidates as Democrats in this summer's recall elections.

Earlier this month, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board Tuesday approved recall elections for three Republicans, bringing the total number to six. At the same time, the nonpartisan election officials put the recall elections of three Democrats on hold.

By running their own Democratic candidates, Republicans will force the July 12 recall elections to become Democratic primaries. The general elections would be moved to Aug. 9.

"We should have protest candidates in most and perhaps all of the races," a Republican official told The Wisconsin Sentinel Journal. "We're not hiding this from anybody."

"Republican senators are again busy doing their jobs crafting a fiscally responsible state budget that promotes economic growth, which puts them at a distinct disadvantage with many of their challengers who have had sufficient time to campaign," Stephan Thompson, Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said in a statement.

"Because of this disadvantage, and the outrageous nature of elected officials facing recall for standing up for a balanced budget, the Republican Party of Wisconsin has advocated that protest candidates run in Democratic primaries to ensure that Republican legislators have ample time to communicate with voters throughout their districts after the state budget is approved," he added.

Wisconsin Democrats called the move "Nixonian tactics."

"Now they're resorting to dirty tricks - like running Republicans as Democrats in Democratic primaries - to deny democracy," Democratic state Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller said.

Republican Isaac Weix is in the process of collecting signatures to get on the ballot as a Democrat against Shelly Moore, the state Democratic Party's official candidate in the 10th District.

"It's absolutely nauseating," Moore told The St. Paul Pioneer Press. "It's about the most un-American thing I can imagine."

[brainpanhandler]

ya know, it's cute to see people protesting, but the problem is everyone else. Republicans simply DO NOT CARE. they can watch these protests ALL DAY LONG and it means nothing to them.

I of course share your frustration justdrew, but the protests are not for the purpose of converting the republicans. They're too brainwashed to ever understand their own interests. Nor are they for the purpose of changing the minds of republican lawmakers, if that's what you meant. Just as a funeral is not really for the dead, but for the living.

Unless people vote for democrats nothing's going to change.

Although I sometimes feel there is no time left to take the long view, nonetheless, we have to take a longish view.

I think we've seen from the Klopenberg fiasco, the majority in WI doesn't give a shit either, they want the Ayn Rand budget, they want sink or swim, you're on your own and the weak can go die.

By a very slim margin and possibly that margin should have gone the other way around. And it's worth noting that normally an incumbent supreme court justice is a shoe in. We forced Prosser and his allies to expend resources they otherwise would not have. I wish kloppenberg would have pursued every last recourse to the bitter end, if for no other reason than to bring the likely dirty tricks in Waukesha into the full light of day.

Until people realize this is a partisan issue and wake up to where their loyalties lie, and commit to voting for democrats, or (DFL) nothing is going to change, the protests are meaningless.

They energize people Justdrew. They bring people together that might not otherwise have come together.

The republican party is the enemy of humanity and traitors to everything this country is supposed to stand for. They are disingenuous two-faced lairs - every single one, not most, every single one. Unless and until people realize the FACT they they are up against this evil party, engaged in civil war for their very lives, nothing is going to change. Yes, they are ABSOLUTELY EVIL. They fit the definition.

That has seemed true all my life. On a national level the democrats are only marginally better though. What I have learned from events here in wisconny is that on a more local level there are actual, real life progressives that call themselves democrats. They walk the walk.

Due to the huge amount of brainwashed fools, and people who's interest lies with the rethugs due to their own wealth, the people who want something different are going to have to adopt some radical options.

I agree . One of those options should be to boycott their coroporate sponsorship and support local businesses that stand by the people.

Some states are simply lost. Enough people will likely NOT be convinced to change their votes. People who know better need to consolidate their votes in states that can still be saved. Move. WI is lost if these recalls fail (and I suspect they will). Time to leave and let the rethugs sink on their ship of fools.

If a state as solidly progressive as Wisconsin has been in the past is "lost", then we are all lost and there is nowhere to move to. I do not think the recalls will fail, barring some sort of election rigging. I don't think moving to progressive enclaves and thereby concentrating our power is a very practical solution. However, if you want to move here and lend your voice and vote to the cause you are most welcome.

We'll put you up in Walkerville until you can get a place of your own:



A couple of intimidating state troopers glared down at me as I took this one of the phalanx of cruisers they had blocking an entrance:

[Nordic]

obama's a fake democrat.

most of the democrats are fake democrats.

[justdrew]

obama's a fake democrat.

most of the democrats are fake democrats.

or they feel they have no choice but to play to the muddled-middle and chase corporate money as not doing so leaves near zero chance of electability. It's not just about "fake democrats" it's a fake democracy, with a fake electorate, who can't be bothered to inform themselves or vote or show loyalty to the only party likely to consider their interests. IS it any wonder there aren't more "real democrats" ? They loose elections (except in a few gerrymandered enclaves). Thanks corporate fascist media and a pliant, uneducated, clueless populace which foolishly thinks it can trust the mainstream media to be anything other than lapdogs to corporate power.

brainpanhandler- yeah, WI isn't to be given up on yet, but it's make or break time. IF I lived there and these recalls fail and the Walker agenda just keeps rolling, I sure as hell wound cease to contribute my life energy to the other people of that state who enabled it though their gullibility and ignorance or outright adoration of fascism.

WHY IN HELL is it so rarely mentioned that they've rammed through a massive giveaway of public assets? People should be chasing these criminals with torches and pitchforks and hanged in effigy. Destroying the complicit media is so important.

[JackRiddler]

.

WI Senate recall elections are coming up next two weeks, face of fascism shows more of itself.

http://www.wisdems.org/news/press/view/2011-08-wisdems-file-complaint-against-koch-brothersafp-dirt

August 01, 2011
WisDems To File Complaint Against Koch Brothers/AFP Dirty Tricks

Call on Six Republican Recall Senators to Denounce Tactic

MADISON-The Democratic Party of Wisconsin on Tuesday will file a complaint seeking the immediate end to a Koch Brothers-funded scheme to suppress Democratic votes in upcoming recall elections and called on six recall Republican senators to denounce the tactic.

[size=1w0]The corporate front group Americans For Prosperity has in at least two recall districts reportedly been distributing absentee ballots with return instructions that would render the votes ineligible.[/size]


See attached complaint here.

"Scott Walker has sought the help of the corporate front group "Americans For Prosperity," and here they come with dirty tricks clearly meant to meddle in our elections and suppress votes against the Koch Brothers' agenda," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Monday. "Wisconsin's election authorities must stop the black hand of the corporate special interests and their front groups who are trying to strangle democracy in our state and support the six Republican senators now facing recall.

These six Republicans must immediately denounce the AFP scheme or it will signal to the public that they endorse the suppression of Wisconsin votes."

Also here with details:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcata ... ml?showall

But more to the meat of things may be this:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/3 ... siderecent

Sat Jul 30, 2011 at 06:24 PM PDT

We Are Wisconsin HQ destroyed in fire
by
1864 House



The We Are Wisconsin headquarters in La Crosse, Wisconsin, was totally destroyed in a fire that started at 9:30 a.m. today and is still burning. There were staff in the building when the fire started, but all were evacuated and are safe. At this time, there is no indication of the cause of the fire.

An article in the La Crosse Tribune has photos showing the extent of the fire that spread to adjoining buildings.

State Representative Jennifer Shilling, who is running against Republican Senator Dan Kapanke in one of the state's recall elections, is going to need assistance following this fire. The recall election is less than two weeks away and this is going to seriously impact her get-out-the-vote effort.

If there is any additional news on the cause, I will update.

Update: Help We Are Wisconsin rebuild at Act Blue.

Update As requested, here is the Act Blue link to donate to Jennifer: Act Blue - Jennifer Shilling

Updates from this morning's La Crosse Tribune:
The La Crosse headquarters for We Are Wisconsin, a left-leaning political action committee, was a total loss, said group spokesman Kelly Steele.

Staffers were in the office when the fire broke out and escaped safely, he said. It’s too early for Steele to say how the group will function without a local headquarters with just 10 days left before the recall election between Democratic challenger Rep. Jennifer Shilling and Republican Sen. Dan Kapanke.

Around the corner, Shilling’s campaign staff was forced to evacuate their Fifth Avenue headquarters, which shares part of a wall with the destroyed building and which lost power Saturday. Shilling released a written statement praising firefighters and emergency workers for securing the area and allowing the staff to get out safely.
It will likely take days before investigators can determine a cause. Baker said vagrants have recently been spotted sleeping in the area, but fire inspector Helfrich said he has not ruled anything out.

While the rear building showed the greatest damage initially, that doesn’t mean the fire began there, he said. That may have been a result of the way that structure burned and collapsed.

The investigation will require interviewing all tenants, owners and firefighters as well as sifting through piles of rubble

Originally posted to 1864 House on Sat Jul 30, 2011 at 06:24 PM PDT.

[seemslikeadream]

FBI seizes items at home of former top aide to Gov. Walker
Photo courtesy of Dale Riechers
An FBI agent searches an SUV parked in the driveway of Cynthia Archer, a former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker, on Wednesday.

By Jason Stein, Patrick Marley, Steve Schultze and Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel

Sept. 14, 2011
FBI agents were at the home of a former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker. Property records identify the home as belonging to Cynthia A. Archer.

Madison - About a dozen law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, raided the home of a former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday as part of a growing John Doe investigation.

The home on Dunning St. on Madison's east side is owned by Cynthia A. Archer, who was until recently deputy administration secretary to the Republican governor. Archer, 52, now holds a different state job but is on paid sick leave, records show.

"We're doing a law enforcement action," one of the FBI agents told a reporter.

He didn't identify himself or provide further comment but confirmed that he and three others were with the FBI and that a Dane County sheriff's deputy was present.

The raid on Archer's home coincides with a John Doe investigation in Milwaukee County.

That probe was started last year after the Journal Sentinel reported that another Walker staffer who was being paid by Milwaukee County taxpayers to help citizens with county services was instead using her work time to post anonymous comments supporting candidate Walker on websites and blogs. As part of the investigation, authorities earlier seized the work computers of two former Walker staffers and executed a search warrant of one of their homes.

Archer, who also held the top staff position under Walker while he served as Milwaukee County executive, said as recently as Friday in an email to the Journal Sentinel that she was "not involved in any way in the John Doe investigation."

John Doe investigations are secret proceedings in which witnesses can be subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath about potential criminal matters and are forbidden from talking publicly about the case. Sources said prosecutors have been looking into whether county staffers were doing political work while on the clock and failing to do county jobs.

The governor's campaign retained former U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic after it received a subpoena for campaign emails shortly before last year's November election. His campaign has paid nearly $60,000 to Biskupic's firm, Michael Best & Friedrich, in the first half of the year.
Agents removed items

Archer's neighbors said about a dozen law enforcement officers arrived Wednesday sometime before 7 a.m. One agent took photos of the house, and others wore jackets that said they were responsible for gathering evidence.

Around 9 a.m., a reporter saw four FBI agents - two of them wearing latex gloves - talking in Archer's backyard before going into her house. Later, one removed a large box and put it in the trunk of an FBI car. They left about 10 a.m.

The FBI also seized the hard drive from a computer that a neighbor had bought from Archer six to eight weeks ago at a garage sale.

Next-door neighbor Dale Riechers said he had never turned on the computer because he was planning to work on it later in the fall. He told the agents about the hard drive and they asked to take it, Riechers said.

When a reporter rang Archer's doorbell shortly after the FBI left, no one answered the door.

Archer has owned the house since 1988. Neighbors said Archer rented out the house during her years working for Walker in Milwaukee, but moved back this year after getting the state job.

At least one of the agents came from the FBI's Milwaukee office, according to a card left with Riechers.

Archer didn't return messages left on her personal cellphone or an email sent to her personal account on Wednesday.

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said that he had no comment and that the governor would not take questions on the issue Wednesday. Walker was in the Capitol meeting with business executives, cabinet officials and lawmakers, Werwie said.

Walker has previously said he has not been contacted personally by prosecutors. He said officials asked his campaign last year for emails and information apparently related to the staffer who was posting pro-Walker messages on websites during work time.

Officials at the U.S. attorney's offices in the eastern and western districts of Wisconsin declined to comment on the search. Leonard Peace, spokesman for the Milwaukee office of the FBI, referred questions about the search to the Milwaukee County district attorney's office.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm also declined to comment.

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney said one of his deputies had been placed at Archer's house during the search at the request of investigators from Chisholm's office. Mahoney said his office wasn't involved in the investigation.

Sources indicated that Chisholm's office continues to take the lead in the case of Walker's former county staffers, with federal authorities providing assistance with computers and other digital technology.
Previous seizures

Milwaukee County prosecutors launched the probe at about the same time Darlene Wink quit her county job as Walker's constituent services coordinator in May 2010 after admitting that she was frequently posting online comments on Journal Sentinel stories and blogs while on the county clock. Nearly all of her posts praised Walker or criticized his opponents.

Authorities later took her work computer and that of Tim Russell, a former Walker campaign staffer who was then working as county housing director, and executed a search warrant of Wink's home.

Neither Wink nor Russell landed a job with the state when Walker took office in January. Wink did not seek a state job, said her attorney, Christopher Wiesmueller.

Wiesmueller said he didn't see any clear connection between his client and the search of Archer's home. He said Wink hadn't had clear boundaries and had sometimes done political Web postings and emails at her county job and had also done county work at home.

"We're talking about an unsupervised employee doing things she shouldn't be. What Darlene was doing, she was definitely doing on her own," Wiesmueller said. "I understand what (prosecutors') argument would be, but I don't think she broke the law."

Asked Wednesday about the John Doe, Russell's attorney refused comment. "I don't have anything I can discuss," Michael Maistelman said.

Sources have said the investigation has increasingly focused on the activities of Archer and Tom Nardelli, Walker's former county chief of staff.

Archer and Nardelli were Walker's top two lieutenants for the past three years of his eight-year tenure as county executive, including the busy months leading up to the November election. Both eventually followed Walker to Madison from Milwaukee County after the former county executive won the governor's race in November.

Nardelli quit his state job as administrator for the Division of Environmental and Regulatory Services in July. That was three days after he had accepted the job, a transfer from another state administrative position. Nardelli was Walker's chief of staff in the county executive's office.

Nardelli said Wednesday that he knew nothing about the reason for the FBI visit to Archer's home and that no law enforcement had visited his home. Nardelli has previously said he hasn't been contacted by the authorities in the John Doe investigation.

Archer, who abruptly left her top post with Walker's administration last month for "personal family matters," had another politically appointed job under the governor already lined up.

She took a $25,000 pay cut in moving to a position at the Department of Children and Families, but the nearly $100,000 salary in that job is still tens of thousands of dollars more than the pay of others who have had the job.

The department released records Wednesday that showed Archer began taking paid, personal leave time on Aug. 16. On Aug. 22 - what was to be her first day at the Department of Children and Families - her leave time was changed to medical leave, records show.

Emails released under the state's open records law showed Archer initially planned to return on Sept. 19. It was unclear from more recent emails whether Archer still planned to return on that date.

Before she abruptly quit on Aug. 19, she was making $124,000 as deputy secretary in the state Department of Administration, the agency that oversees state contracts, the state budget, the state workforce and other key government functions. At the time, state officials said only that Archer had taken a personal leave of absence, giving no details on reasons for the leave, how soon she'd come back or what her duties would be.

Archer, in her resignation letter emailed to Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, said simply that she was done with her job that same day.

But documents provided by the state show she actually was already hired a day earlier, on Aug. 18, to the $99,449-a-year job in the Department of Children and Families, as the department's legislative liaison. That's according to a letter released Friday from Eloise Anderson, who heads the department. Archer's appointment to the new job was effective Aug. 20.

Anderson said Monday that Archer has a higher salary than her predecessor because of Archer's extensive background in state and local government and higher educational attainment.

On Aug. 25, Archer said by email that she would leave any announcement about her leave of absence or eventual return to a state job to the governor's office. But Walker's office has sent questions on Archer to the department she left and to the one to which she is now assigned.

The John Doe investigation has already resulted in one conviction.

William Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co., was sentenced to two years' probation after pleading guilty to two felony violations of state campaign finance laws for exceeding the donation limits and laundering donations to Walker and other Wisconsin politicians.

[seemslikeadream]

FBI Raid Involving Walker Campaign Records May Foretell Bigger Threat
By Roger Bybee

FBI Emblem at the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington, D.C. (Photo by cliff1066 on Flickr.)

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and his Republican allies have been conducting themselves with contempt toward those opposing their policies.

This contempt includes an utter disregard not just for labor and Democratic legislators, but the vast majority of Wisconsin citizens, judging from polls about the right to a union voice for public workers and Walker’s 59 percent disapproval rating.

But an FBI raid on the Madison home of a former top Walker aide—who served him both during his term as Milwaukee County executive and as governor—may signal big trouble for the governor and might also diminish his "I'm-on-a-mission-from-God" zealotry.

The biggest step thus far

The raid was the most dramatic step thus far in a “John Doe” investigation into whether Walker used his county staffers to campaign for governor on the taxpayers’ dime. The fact that Walker is a Tea Partier supposedly favoring the restricted use of tax dollars (except for corporate subsidies and contracts to cronies) makes the matter all the more interesting.

The Walker aide whose home was raided, Cynthia A. Archer, abruptly resigned a $124,000 post in August and went on leave. Another top aide, Thomas Nardelli, who had also followed Walker from county government as Walker’s chief of staff to a job at the State Capitol, quit his latest post in the administration just three days after accepting it.

These curious actions tend to suggest that they are coming under severe pressure from legal authorities to testify about the practices of Walker’s campaign for governor.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported:

The raid on Archer's home coincides with a growing John Doe investigation in Milwaukee County, started last year after the disclosure that another Walker staffer at the county had posted political commentary on websites while on her job in the county executive's office.

As part of the investigation, authorities earlier seized the work computers of two former Walker staffers and executed a search warrant of one of their homes.

Same issue, another major scandal

The central issue in scandals that rocked the Wisconsin State Capitol several years back was also the illegal use of staffers by legislators to work on their campaigns while being paid by the public. Then, it resulted in the resignations of a number of top Republican and Democratic legislators. Two of the Democrats received prison sentences.

Having seen the fate of former colleagues in the legislature where Walker once served, the governor is clearly taking the current legal threat very seriously:

The governor's campaign retained former U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic after it received a subpoena for campaign emails shortly before last year's November election. His campaign has paid nearly $60,000 to Biskupic's firm, Michael Best & Friedrich, in the first half of the year.

Although the investigation of Walker’s campaign began last fall, with the wheels of justice grinding slowly, Walker managed a fairly comfortable victory over Democratic candidate Tom Barrett. But subsequent polling has suggested that Walker would lose if the two had a re-match.

With a little help from his friends…

Last fall, Walker dodged another bullet when the Greater Milwaukee Committee’s special panel overseeing the county budget withheld, until after the election, a devastating report on its financial condition under Walker’s leadership, raising the possibility of bankruptcy.

The issue dribbled out, but it failed to ignite as a central campaign issue. The panel of the GMC—one of the key ruling-class policy groups in Milwaukee—was chaired by Michael Grebe, who just happened to also chair Walker’s campaign committee. The delay and release of the report thus kept an important issue about Walker’s management pretty much off the table during the campaign.

But ironically, Walker's own incompetence could potentially set the stage for him to push a Michigan-style “financial martial law” takeover of Milwaukee government.

(Grebe is also president of the Journal Sentinel-worshiped but hardline-right-wing Bradley Foundation, which spent $1 million subsidizing the 1994 book The Bell Curve that posited African Americans and Latinos are intellectually deficient. The Bradley Foundation also funded the activities of the Project for a New American Century, which gathered many of the neo-conservative leaders [Cheney, Rumsfeld, Kristol, Wolfowitz, et al.] who successfully drove the US into war with Iraq. Based in Milwaukee, it is the best-funded right-wing foundation in the US.)

Having avoided serious questioning in the media about both his fiscal practices and the conduct of his campaign, Walker and his allies, as I noted recently, immediately began swinging a wrecking ball at the foundations of Wisconsin democracy.

'Fitzwalkerstan' emerges

Walker Inc. has been stripping workers of their union rights, attacking the voting rights of marginalized groups likely to vote Democratic, undermining public education as an institution seeking to ensure equal opportunity for all children and ramming through a blatantly partisan redistricting plan that will ensure Republican majorities in the State Legislature over the next decade.

To accomplish these anti-democratic measures, Walker and his loyal legions in the legislature have consistently relied upon grotesquely undemocratic methods. These tactics provoked State Rep. Mark Pocan to compare Walker’s Wisconsin to the farcical caricature of “democracy” prevailing in the former Soviet republics.

Pocan memorably dubbed the Walker-run Wisconsin as “Fitzwalkerstan,” naming it after the governor and the Fitzgerald brothers, Scott and Jeff, who are the leaders, respectively, of the State Senate and Assembly.

Worker fired for urging disclosure

Just last week, a state worker was fired after sending an email urging fellow workers to inform the public that they are eligible for free photo IDs from the Department of Motor Vehicles—IDs needed for voting under Wisconsin’s highly restrictive new law.

The Walker Administration and the department had surely hoped to keep the availability of these free IDs low-key, so as to discourage low-income voters with the $28 fee they would otherwise be forced to pay for a voting ID.

Larsen denied the charge he had previous disciplinary infractions that the department claims justify the firing. But with public-employee unions blocked from operating effectively by Walker’s new law known as Act 10, it remains to be seen what recourse he will have.

However, we should recall that unions were built through the self-directed actions of workers who realized that their abuse would continue until they acted together to exert power in the workplace over management.

With the Walker Administration so intent on silencing workers’ voices and crushing dissenters, my bet is that Scott Walker is escalating a fight with precisely the wrong set of working people.

[seemslikeadream]

September 21, 2011 08:00 AM
Milwaukee FBI Investigation Draws A Little Bit Closer To Our Favorite Wingnut Governor

By Susie Madrak

This just gets better and better. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy -- except maybe Paul Ryan:

When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker took a phone call that he thought was from billionaire campaign donor David Koch, he described the secret meeting of his cabinet at which he outlined the “budget repair bill” that stripped collective bargaining protections from public employees and teachers, replaced civil servants with political cronies and made it possible to sell off public utilities in no-bid deals with out-of-state corporations.

Walker was talking himself up as a new Ronald Reagan, in hopes of impressing one of the primary funders of conservative projects in the United States. But his comments revealed the previously unknown details regarding the political machinations behind a piece of legislation so controversial that it would provoke mass demonstrations, court battles and legislative recall elections.

“This is an exciting time,” the governor told “Koch“ in late February. “This is, you know, I told my cabinet, I had a dinner the Sunday, excuse me, Monday right after the 6th, came home from the Super Bowl where the Packer’s won, that Monday night, I had all my cabinet over to the residence for dinner. Talked about what we were going to do, how we were going to do it, we had already kind of doped plans up, but it was kind of a last hurrah, before we dropped the bomb and I stood up and I pulled out a, a picture of Ronald Reagan and I said you know this may seem a little melodramatic but 30 years ago Ronald Reagan whose 100th birthday we just celebrated the day before um had one of the most defining moments of his political career, not just his presidency, when he fired the air traffic controllers and uh I said to me that moment was more important than just for labor relations and or even the federal budget, that was the first crack in the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism because from that point forward the Soviets and the communists knew that Ronald Reagan wasn’t a pushover and uh, I said this may not have as broad a world implications but in Wisconsin’s history—little did I know how big it would be nationally, in Wisconsin’s history, I said, this is our moment, this is our time to change the course of history and this is why it’s so important that they were all there.”

E-mails obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy reveal that the cabinet was indeed present for the meeting. The secretaries and gubernatorial aides who were present are listed. But so, too, is one other key player in the administration: the individual identified in e-mails from key players in the Walker administration as the “point person” for the governor’s push to radically restructure labor relations and state government—a project so significant to Walker that he declared, “This is our moment.”

That person? Cynthia Archer, the subject of last week’s FBI raid, which removed a crate of documents from her Madison home, collected her computer’s hard drive and revealed to most Wisconsinites that a “Joe Doe” probe has targeted key aides to Walker during his service as county executive and governor. The probe remains secret, but leaks associated with it suggest that the focus is political wrongdoing and corruption. One top donor to Walker’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign has already been put on probation after admitting to felony violations of campaign finance and money laundering rules.

The governor says he does not know anything about the inquiry beyond what he has read “in the press.” But Walker’s campaign, which remains a going endeavor, has hired a former US attorney—with extensive experience dealing with federal investigations—to respond to his a subpoena related to the “John Doe” probe for email and other records. And that attorney’s firm has, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, been paid more than $60,000.

Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal has this interesting nugget:

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen was asked months ago to assist in a growing secret investigation of former and current aides to Gov. Scott Walker, but Van Hollen's office declined, sources familiar with the request said Tuesday.

Van Hollen's agency assisted with at least one previous John Doe investigation run by the Milwaukee County district attorney's office, lending a hand during the probe of then Milwaukee Ald. Michael McGee. State Department of Justice officials would not say why they chose not to assist with the investigation of Walker's former county staffers.

Sources said the request was made around the time of the November 2010 election.

Also on Tuesday, state attorneys filed a motion to withdraw an affidavit by Walker aide Cindy Archer in a major federal case - less than one week after FBI agents and other law enforcement officers raided her Madison home.

State officials wouldn't say if the motion was filed as a result of the raid.

[brainpanhandler]

Conservative activists plotting to sabotage Scott Walker recall effort

By Muriel Kane
Friday, November 11, 2011

The campaign to recall Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will not officially kick off until next Tuesday, but conservative activists are already openly discussing plants to sabotage the petition drive.

The Politicscoop blog reported on Friday that it has been receiving screenshots of conservatives discussing how they might circulate false petitions of their own and later destroy them.

“I’d like to collect signatures of those who want to recall Walker…so I can have something to feed my shredder,” read one Facebook post from a user calling himself “Charles Atlas Shrugging.”

...

Mother Jones has picked up on the story and has looked further into some of the posters. It notes that Jenkins describes himself in his Facebook profile as a “UNION SLAVE LABORER” at the Kenosha Unified School District and complains, “Dealing with white trash, illegal immigrants, and criminal gang black kids isn’t fun and games.” He lists his interests as “Greeting A Liberal,” “Beating A Liberal,” Strangling A Liberal,” Burying a Dead Body,” and “Having a Few Beers.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/11/11/c ... ll-effort/

$10,000 Reward Fund
In response to reports of alleged plans to illegally destroy recall petitions, One Wisconsin Now has established a $10,000 reward fund for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of any individual guilty of fraudulently destroying or defacing recall petitions from today until the end of the recall gathering process on January 14, 2012.

https://secure3.convio.net/pn/site/Dona ... d1.app334b

[seemslikeadream]

Arrest made in ongoing John Doe probe into Walker campaign aides

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 7:22 a.m. CST

MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) - The first arrest has been made in an ongoing John Doe probe into campaign activities by present and former aides to Governor Scott Walker.

Milwaukee real estate broker Andrew Jensen Jr. was in jail Tuesday night. And the Journal Sentinel said he refused to cooperate with the investigation by Milwaukee County prosecutors.

Assistant district attorney Bruce Landgraf would not comment on the arrest.

The paper said the 50-year-old Jensen gave $850 to Walker's campaign for governor, and his co-workers at the Boerke real estate firm donated $12,000.

The John Doe probe started in May of 2010, after a county employee was caught writing favorable things on blogs about Walker and his campaign during her work hours.

The Journal Sentinel said the probe later dealt with illegal campaign work by Walker's former aides in the Milwaukee County Executive's office. And the paper has said the case has moved in other directions.

In September, FBI agents raided the home of aide Cindy Archer, who followed Walker to Madison. She became the Number 2 person in the Administration Department before resigning to take a legislative liaison's post this fall.

[brainpanhandler]

Fuck you Walker. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

The 1 million signatures as a percentage of the total votes cast in the election which saw Walker take the Governor's office dwarfs other gubernatorial recalls in US history.

Organizers file more than 1 million signatures to recall Walker

...


"The collection of more than 1 million signatures is a crystal-clear indication of how strong the appetite is to stop the damage and turmoil that Gov. Walker has caused Wisconsin," said Ryan Lawler, United Wisconsin co-chairman. "In the dead of Wisconsin winter, an army of more than 30,000 Wisconsin-born and -bred volunteers took to the streets, the malls, the places of worship and dinner tables to take our state back."

This would be the first statewide recall election in Wisconsin history, and only the third gubernatorial recall in U.S. history, if at least 540,208 signatures against Walker are found to be valid.

...

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ ... 963f4.html

[NeonLX]

Now let's hope the Dems can find someone good to run against Walker. (I still maintain that Barrett lost at least in part because of the high speed rail issue--that was a huge lightning rod "upstate". Well, that, and Walker was not very forthcoming about his Koch-fueled agenda during the campaign).

[seemslikeadream]

Wisconsin GOP to Lose Senate Majority Before Recall Begins

State Sen. Galloway to resign, leaving Senate split
By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel Updated: 11:06 a.m.

Pam Galloway
Madison - State Sen. Pam Galloway, who faces a recall election this summer, plans to resign from the Senate shortly, leaving an even split between Republicans and Democrats.

"After a great deal of thought and consideration, I've decided to put the needs of my family first," the Wausau Republican said in a statement Friday. "My family has experienced multiple, sudden and serious health issues, which require my full attention. Unfortunately, this situation is not compatible with fulfilling my obligations as state Senator or running for re-election at this time."

Her statement did not say when her resignation would take effect, and her office said she was not available for an interview. She plans to speak to voters in her district on Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Galloway's departure was not influenced by her impending recall election and that he was confident she could have defeated Rep. Donna Seidel (D-Wausau) in the recall election.

"It doesn't change my plans," Seidel said of Galloway's planned resignation. "People really believe their concerns have not been addressed and their values have not been paid attention to. They want Wisconsin back."

Galloway's resignation will cause the Republicans to lose their Senate majority. Republicans would hold 16 seats and Democrats would hold 16 seats. It marks a dramatic change from a year ago, when Republicans held a commanding 19-14 majority in the Senate. It was narrowed to 17-16 in August when Democrats gained two seats in recall elections.

The new, 16-16 split will be brief, and one side or the other should take control in May or June, when recall elections are expected to be held for state senators.

The recall election against Galloway would still move forward even though she would no longer occupy the seat, said Reid Magney, a spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, which runs state elections.

That election is preliminarily scheduled for May 8. If more than one candidate runs from one party, that election would become a primary and the general election would be on June 5.

"A recall can't be short-circuited" once signatures to recall someone have been submitted, Magney said.

Galloway's name will not appear on the ballot if she resigns before the election, Magney said.

Fitzgerald said he would recruit another candidate to run in Galloway's place. He said he would start by talking to Reps. Jerry Petrowski of Marathon and Mary Williams of Medford.

Petrowski said he was not aware of Galloway's plan. He did not comment on whether he would consider running. Williams could not immediately be reached.

The other senators likely facing recall are Fitzgerald and GOP Sens. Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls and Van Wanggaard of Racine.

Galloway's plans were disclosed a day after the Senate ended the regular legislative session on Thursday. No work is planned for the rest of the year, but the Legislature could still be called into special or extraordinary session.

"It kind of puts us in a holding pattern for the next two months," Fitzgerald said.

Lawmakers are awaiting a decision from a three-judge panel on whether maps of legislative districts that Republicans drew last year pass constitutional muster. If the federal judges find the maps were improperly drawn, they will likely send them back to the Legislature.

That would mean Republicans and Democrats would have to agree on any new election maps. If they could not, the judges would have to draw them.

How the maps are drawn is crucial because they can give one party an advantage over the other. The maps Republicans drew last year greatly benefit their side, but Democrats and Latinos sued, arguing the maps violated the federal Voting Rights Act and U.S. Constitution because of how they treated minorities and because they caused 300,000 people to wait six years, instead of four, between their opportunities to vote in state Senate elections.

Also, Gov. Scott Walker has talked of calling lawmakers into special session to consider streamlining iron ore mining regulations after a bill to do that failed in the Senate this month when Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) sided with Democrats to oppose the measure.

Fitzgerald said he believed now it would be much more difficult to reach any kind of deal on mining.

With Galloway's resignation, the Republicans will lose their Senate majority. Fitzgerald said he and Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) would become co-leaders.

A powerful committee that runs the state Senate now includes three Republicans and two Democrats. A third Democrat - Sen. Julie Lassa of Stevens Point - would be added to that committee, Fitzgerald said.

Sen. Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) would remain Senate president because he was elected by all senators, not just the majority party, Fitzgerald said.

Galloway's tenure in the Senate has been short and tumultuous. She defeated then-Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston) in November 2010 in a Republican wave.

She was the lead author of a new law allowing Wisconsin citizens to carry concealed weapons, winning a legislative battle Republicans in Wisconsin had waged for a decade.

She served during a rocky year when protests were frequent, particularly because of a GOP law to sharply curtail collective bargaining for public workers. That sparked last year's recall elections in the Senate, as well as the ones this year against senators, Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

The contentious legislative agenda and the wave of recall elections has led to bitter divisions between the parties in the Senate and frequent disruptions by protesters.

"For the sake of the electorate, I hope that better days are ahead for this institution," Galloway said in her statement.

[seemslikeadream]

Motion by Former Deputy Appears to Implicate WI's Scott Walker in a Conspiracy to Violate Milwaukee Employee Residence Law
Will a criminal probe undo the GOP Guv even before a recall?...
Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning

What is it with Republicans and residency laws? Recently, in covering the conviction of Indiana's Republican Secretary of State Charlie White for six felonies, including three counts of felony voter fraud, Brad Friedman listed the growing number of high-level Republicans, including Mitt Romney, who may have committed voter fraud by casting ballots as registered voters from residences where they did not reside.

Now we find a little-noticed Feb. 23 report from Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) which reveals that criminal defense attorney Frank Gimbel filed a motion for change of venue --- from Milwaukee County to Columbia County --- in the criminal case pending against his client, Kelly M. Rindfleisch. Rindfleisch served as Scott Walker's Deputy Chief of Staff when Walker was the Milwaukee County Chief Executive and is one of four top deputies to have been indicted, so far, as part of Milwaukee County prosecutors' long-running "Joe Doe" investigation.

In his motion, Gimbel alleges Rindfleisch, "didn't live in Milwaukee County when the misconduct allegedly took place," according to WPR.

In the bargain, as a comparison of Gimbel's motion to the allegations contained in the 51-page criminal complaint [PDF] (the "Rindfleisch complaint") against her suggests, Gimbel may have implicated Rindfleisch and Walker in a criminal conspiracy to violate the residency requirement for Milwaukee County employment. That apparent violation appears to have occurred as part of the broader scheme alleged by prosecutors to misuse that office to gain a political advantage for Walker and other GOP candidates during the 2010 campaign...


Resident until charged

Last month we reported that the Rindfleisch complaint, which formally charges Walker's former Deputy Chief of Staff with four felony counts of misconduct in public office, contains factual allegations which implicate a number of individuals, listed as "interested parties." Those parties include WI's controversial Republican Governor in a wide-reaching criminal conspiracy to misuse public employees and resources for partisan political gain during the time of Walker's tenure as County Executive, before his ascendancy to the Governor's mansion in November of 2010.

To establish proper venue in Milwaukee County, prosecutors allege in the Rindfleisch complaint that, per her personnel file, "Rindfleisch claimed her residence as 133 South 93rd Street, West Allis, Wisconsin," which just happened to be the residence of "James Villa, former Chief of Staff for the Milwaukee County Executive Office and long-time personal friend of Scott Walker. He served as informal advisor to the Friends of Scott Walker in 2010."

According to WPR, in his change of venue motion, Gimbel alleges that the case against Rindfleisch should not be heard in Milwaukee County Circuit Court because she did not actually reside in Milwaukee County at the time she was employed in the Milwaukee County Executive Office. However, the official complaint alleges that Villa testified Rindfleisch began living in his home several days per week "to fulfill her residency requirement as a Milwaukee County employee." According to the prosecutors' complaint, that allegation was confirmed by "chats" pulled from Rindfleisch's laptop.

County employment as cover for campaign activity

WPR reports [emphasis added]:

The governor has distanced himself from Rindfleisch, although a copy of her personnel file obtained by Wisconsin Public Radio shows Walker was the only person to sign off on her hiring. He was also the only person to approve her promotion two months later.
In last month's article on the continuing "John Doe" investigation, we noted that Rindfleisch's promotion to Walker's Deputy Chief of Staff placed her less than 25 feet from the door of Walker's office as County Executive. That was at the same time, according to the Rindfleisch complaint, that she was routinely using a secret email system set up by Walker's former Deputy Chief of Staff Tim Russell to carry out extensive campaign activities on behalf of Walker's campaign arm which calls itself Friends of Scott Walker. But the complaint also alleges that Rindfleisch began her illegal participation in campaign activities during office hours from the moment she began working in the Milwaukee County Executive Office.

The change of venue motion, placed in the context of the allegations contained in the Rindfleish complaint, suggests that extraordinary efforts were made to evade the residency requirement in order to bring a political operative (Rindfleish --- who was also previously tied to the Assembly Republican Caucus Scandal that put several high-ranking state officials in jail several years earlier), into the Milwaukee County Executive Office in order to misuse that position for the political advantage of Walker in his 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

The fact that Walker signed off on both her initial hire and her later promotion strongly suggests that Walker was in on the scheme from day-one. That inference is reinforced by the "smoking gun" 5/14/10 emails between Walker and Russell and between Rindfleisch and Russell. That series of emails reveals that Rindfleisch pulled the plug on the secret email system just ten minutes after Walker told Russell, in the wake of public exposure of former Milwaukee County employee Darlene Wink's illegal political missives sent during office hours: "We cannot afford another story like this one…That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the day, etc."

All-in-all, these points seem to back up our contention from last week, in the wake of the establishment of his new Legal Defense Fund, that Scott Walker may be now be a target of prosecutors in the long-running "John Doe" investigation which has already led to the indictments of four of his former top deputies.

While Walker is now set to face an historic recall election in June, based on his performance as Governor, one wonders whether a criminal indictment against him for his activities while County Executive could, in fact, occur even sooner than that...